Apple

A major newspaper has recently questioned how much AT ... (view more)

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has quit the Apple board. His resignation came after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began investigating why Apple refused to carry a Google program in its app store. Schmidt's departure comes four months after ... another government agency, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), began probing his role on the board . A 1914 antitrust law bans people from sitting on the boards of rival companies if they compete with one another. That was becoming more and more problematic as Google moved into its own browser and being heavily involved in the open source operating ... (view more)

A British newspaper claims Apple ordered a customer whose iPod exploded to keep quiet about it. The Times says the company refused to refund the customer unless they signed a confidentiality agreement. Ken Stanborough one day found his daughter's ... iPod overheating to the point when he could no longer hold it. He threw it from his back door and within 30 seconds it exploded and flew "10 feet in the air." He contacted both the retailer where he bought the device, Argos, and Apple itself. Eventually he received a letter from Apple offering him a full refund but denying any liability. The letter ... (view more)

Apple is trying to make it more attractive for iTunes shoppers to buy full albums rather than just single tracks. The plan involves giving customers additional electronic material to simulate the experience of owning a physical product, like a CD. ... Codenamed 'Cocktail,' Apple's scheme reportedly has the support of all four major record labels. It would mean album buyers not only received electronic copies of album covers, liner notes, lyrics lists and other printed material, but that there'd be some degree of interactivity -- for example, by having the track listing act as a menu. (Source: ... (view more)

Apple has formally applied to launch the iPhone in China. The move, earlier than expected, appears to have been made possible once the firm agreed to drop WiFi capability. There are both political and technical reasons for WiFi issues in China. ... Until April this year, the government refused to allow any WiFi handsets. Officially that was because of fears users would add Internet phone services such as Skype and use those to make calls, to the detriment of China's phone companies. Unofficially it was thought the government believed WiFi would make it harder to monitor communications. Censorship ... (view more)

The first man to "jailbreak" the original iPhone has done so again with the new 3GS model. Jailbreaking means users who install a piece of unauthorized software are then able to run any applications they like, not just those from the official App ... Store. George Hotz cracked the security system on the 3GS in just two weeks, releasing a Windows version of his jailbreaking tool, dubbed purp1erain, on Friday. Yesterday afternoon he released a Mac edition of the same tool. According to Hotz, his work was relatively easy. He took advantage of a security loophole discovered in the last new ... (view more)

Apple fans will be encouraged to hear that the company's iconic CEO Steve Jobs has returned from medical leave. Jobs had been away for several months due to what Apple has described as a "hormone imbalance". News of Jobs' recent health issues ... emerged back in January , when several reports suggested the dynamic Apple co-founder was suffering from an undisclosed but perhaps serious medical problem. Some insiders even worried that Jobs, who most can tell has lost a significant amount of weight, could have been experiencing the return of pancreatic cancer, which sidelined him several ... (view more)

Apple is celebrating after the latest incarnation of the iPhone sold a million units in its first weekend. However, the firm has issued compensation to some customers who were unable to fully activate their handsets. The sales figures of the 3G S ... are keeping pace with the 3G, which came out last August. That's an impressive number, given that many consumers are cutting back on spending this year and that there are no revolutionary changes to the new model other than an improvement in speed. Pre Sales Figures May be Inflated It's worth remembering that Apple's counting methods are considered ... (view more)

Four senators have written to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) calling for an investigation into exclusive deals between cellphone manufacturers and network carriers. Though the letter doesn't name any particular companies, it appears ... that Apple's deal with AT ... (view more)